SIR 2.0 | Opposition's objections part of 'conspiracy' to seize power through infiltrators: BJP

Trivedi accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of making 'baseless' allegations against the Election Commission and spreading 'misinformation' to win polls.

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday slammed the TMC and the Congress over their objections to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, accusing them of being part of a "conspiracy" to seize power in India through infiltrators.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that the SIR exercise in West Bengal and other states is necessary to ensure that nobody succeeds in capturing power in India or in any of its states through "videshi ghuspaithiya (infiltrators)".

He accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of making "baseless" allegations against the Election Commission and spreading "misinformation" to win polls.

"The kind of condemnable efforts being made by some of the constituents of the 'INDI gathbandhan' in states against the move to ensure that an impartial and transparent election is held is a matter of grave concern," Trivedi said.

"Somewhere or the other, these political parties appear to be supporting the ongoing conspiracy to seize power through 'guspaithiye sandigdh' (suspected infiltrators) voters by disrupting and influencing the constitutional process of cleaning voter lists in the states," he added.

Citing media reports, the BJP leader said Irfan Ansari, a cabinet minister in Jharkhand, has openly exhorted people to lock up block level officers (BLO) if they come seeking information from them, and asked the opposition INDIA bloc if the Congress leader's "condemnable" call did not amount to "taking democracy hostage".

"Whether the Constitution is under threat or not when such threats are passed?" he asked the Congress.

Citing another media report, Trivedi said that Jameer-ul-Islam Mulla, a TMC worker in West Bengal, is alleged to have threatened a BLO over the phone.

Such situations are emerging because Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is levelling baseless allegations against the SIR and the West Bengal chief minister is "indirectly giving provocative speeches" on the voter roll revision, he charged.

Taking on Banerjee, the BJP leader reminded the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo how firmly she raised the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration in West Bengal in Parliament in August, 2005, citing concerns about rigging of elections and threw a file at the then Lok Sabha Speaker because a discussion on the issue was not being allowed in the House.

"She is negating her own stand today," he charged, slamming the TMC supremo over her stance against the SIR drive in West Bengal.

Trivedi also blamed the opposition parties for allegedly raising slogans in support of slain Maoist leader Madvi Hidma during a protest here at India Gate over rising air pollution levels in the national capital.

"These are the same people who had celebrated in their university hostels the killing of 76 CRPF personnel in a Maoist ambush in 2010 (in Chhattisgarh)," he added.

"The thoughts of Macaulay, Mao and Marx have polluted the minds of such people. Along with that, the dream of coming to power by getting the support of fundamentalists is a bigger challenge for the country today," he said, in a veiled attack at the Opposition.

Replying to questions on investigative agencies' findings on the Red Fort blast, the BJP leader said it has demolished the arguments of people who say that only those youth who are "poor, oppressed, uneducated and misguided" join terrorism.

"Well-educated people who cannot be considered misguided were involved in hatching a terror conspiracy… Such problems arise due to the ideological cover that the so-called Leftists and secularists try to give to such elements," he said.

"They say secularism in India is in danger. No. India is in danger because of pseudo-secularism," Trivedi added.